Purdue University Northwest's Debbie Bachmann Receives LEAP Indiana COVID Character Honors Award

From Purdue University Northwest:

August 25, 2021

Debbie Bachmann, the administrator of student programming and leadership in PNW’s Honors College, has been awarded a LEAP Indiana COVID Character Honors award. This award is a special statewide recognition given by LEAP Indiana for university staff members or faculty who made extraordinary efforts to assist students during the pandemic. LEAP Indiana is a collaborative faculty network that aligns with the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ (AAC&U) Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) States Initiative.

As the Honors College lead on programming, Debbie faced perhaps the greatest challenge over the past year, as pandemic-related restrictions effectively eliminated in-person gatherings.

“Without the ability to meet and interact to build a sense of community, one of the chief cornerstones of the PNW Honors College was threatened. Despite these challenges, Debbie never missed a beat shaping—and re-shaping—the programming and student leadership training to meet the new conditions,” stated Jonathan Swarts, Dean of the Honors College.

Chief among her innovations was the idea for an Honors College-sponsored 5K walk in PNW’s campus community to benefit the emergency fund for students in need. Titled “Students Helping Students,” this walk was a huge success and was part of the annual Homecoming celebrations. It allowed PNW to begin rebuilding the personal connections we had been denied the past year, and most importantly, raised a significant amount of funds for the student emergency fund.

LEAP Indiana will post the COVID Character Honor stories on a special page of the LEAP Indiana website. In addition, all of the honorees will be invited to join an awards dinner.

This press release was produced by Purdue University Northwest. The views expressed are the author's own.